Splice-bar.



C PETTY.

SPLiCE BAR.

N FILED JUNE APPLICATI ,1917- 1 ,272,310, Patented July 9, 1918.

CALHOUN PETTY, OF FBIERSON, LOUISIANA, ASSliGNOR. F ONE-HALF TO W. A. SHAMBEEGER, OF FRIERSGN, LOUISIANA.

SPLICE-BAR.

Application filed. June 26, 1917.

Frierson, in the parish of De Soto and State of Louisiana, have invented new and useful Improvements in Splice-Bars, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in 7 means for connecting the meeting ends of railway rails.

In carrying out my invention, it'is my purpose to produce a pairrof rail engaging elements having their base portions provided with interengaging members and. an element passing through said members whereby to quickly and securely connect the same.

Itis also my purpose to produce a joint for the meeting ends of rails comprising two substantially similar members designed to engage with the opposite sides of the rails and having means associated therewith and designed to co-engage with the rails for holding the said rails against longitudinal or creeping movement, said members having their base portions provided with interengaging members, and a single locking element passing through the said interengaging members to lock the same.

It is a still further object of the invention to produce a means for securing the alining ends of railway rails in which the ordinary bolts and nuts will be entirely dispensed with, and wherein the bolt openings in the webs of the rails will not be necessitated, and whereby to overcome the-weakness of the rails occasioned by the said openings therein. 1

. t is a further object of the invention to produce a means for connecting the confronting ends of rails which may be successfully employed as a means for connecting the broken ends of a rail, such means being of a comparatively simple nature, cheap to manufacture, easily applied and thoroughly eflicient in its application.

Other objects and advantages will appear as the nature of the invention is more fully understood, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of two rails connected in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view approximately on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 9, 1918.

Serial No. 177,096.

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view.

neierrmg now to the drawings in detail, the rails are indicated by the characters 10 and; are of the ordinary construction. As the improvement entirelydispenses wlth the usual connecting bolts and nuts therefor, the

webs of the rails are not provided with the usual bolt openings, so that the strength of the rails, at the ends thereof, is in no wise impaired.

The rail connecting means embodies the employment of two chair members,both of substantially similar construction, each formed to include the usual angle or side plate 12 designed to be received in the fish spaces to the opposite sides of the rails 10, and the angular wall 13 between the outer straight wall 14 and the inner plate 15. The bases of the joint chair members include laterally extending spaced elements 17 having their upper faces horizontally straight and being preferably of a substantially rectangular formation and upon the upper edges of the said members 17 the base of the rails 10 is designed to rest. The base elements of the respective joint chair members 12 are so arranged that when the said sections 12 are associated, one of the elements 17 of one of the said joint chair members 12 will be received between two of the elements 17 of the adjacent joint chair member 12 and so it will be noted that the elements 17 of one of the joint chair members are interengaged by the elements 17 of the co-acting ointchair members, the space between each pair of elements 17 being slightly greater than the thickness of the element to be received therebetween, so that the joint chair members may be easily and quickly associated by simply moving the same laterally toward each other.

The elements 17, comprising the base portions of the respective rail joint sections 12 are, as stated, of a rectangular formation, their under faces being parallel to the upper or rail receiving faces, and the said under faces are provided with centrally disposed transversely arnangedf alining dove-tailed slots or notches 18, which greatly decrease in width from one of the ends of the base of the respective joint chair sections to the opposite end thereof, whereby to provide a continuous wedge shaped passage upon the under face of the base of the co-acting section, and designed to be passed through this passage, is a wedge shaped locking member 19, Which is of a dove-tailed shaped formation, and when the same is wedged through the passage provided by the alining notches, a holding or locking element, such as a cotter pin 21 is passed through the reduced end of the wedge shaped member or key to hold the same in positive engagement with the base of the oint chair sections.

It will be also noted that the base portions of the joint chair sections are in the nature of interengaging tongues and grooves, the elements 17 forming of course, the tongues and the space between the said elements providing the grooves, and from the foregoing description, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the simplicity and advantages of my construction, will, it is thought, be apparent and appreciated by those skilled in the art to which such inventions appertain without further detailed description.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is r A rail joint comprising side plates each having a base portion composed of a number of spaced sections, the sections of one base portion fitting snugly in the spaces between the sections of the other base portion, the lower surfaces of all of the sections lying in the same plane which is parallel with the upper edges of the sections, the lower edges of all of the sections extending completely across the base portions whereby the ends of all of the sections at the same side of'the rail joint lie in the same plane, all of the base sections having at their lower edges notches which are in alinement with each other longitudinally of the joint, said notches having inclined side walls and the side walls of the notches converging toward each other longitudinally of the joint thereby forming a wedge shape slot which is open at its ends and at the lower surfaces of the base portions of the plates, and a wedge shaped member fitting snugly in the slot and having its lower side lying in the same plane as that in whichthe lower surfaces of the base portions of the plate lie.

In testimony whereof I afiiX my signature,

CALHOUN PETTY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Pate nts, Washington, D. G." 

